4.8 Explore whether recycling reduces the demand for resources and the problem of waste disposal, including paper, plastics and metals.
We ocasionally think of waste and rubbish in the planet and try to sort out the solution. We believe that recycling is a key issue! We tend to think of waste as something we no longer want. When these unwanted items are put into bins they are taken to a landfill site and buried. Over the years we have become so used to putting our "waste" out for someone else to deal with that we have become a throwaway society. However, there is now a realisation that dumping items we no longer want into landfill sites is not a sustainable option, not only because it's environmentally unsound, but also because we are simply running out of holes in the ground. How to dispose of the ever-increasing amount of waste we generate has become a huge problem and we are now under enormous pressure to minimise what goes into landfill. Everyone in this whole planet one of us can help make a difference if we take some responsibility for the waste that we produce. Recycling.jpg|Recyling site ImagesCA9KKJ65.jpg|Recyling requires many hours of labour and technology 120px-Recycling symbol svg.png|International recyling symbol Recycling shoes-p167297217126189231lelf 400.jpg|100% recycable shoe Recycling is quite a modern process which has been known to have many financial benefits as well as ecological. But does the increase of recylcing materials decrease the demand for them and the issues of waste disposal Some Interesting Facts *Up to 60% of the rubbish that ends up in the dustbin could be recycled. *The unreleased energy contained in the average dustbin each year could power a television for 5,000 hours. *The largest lake in the Britain could be filled with rubbish from the UK in 8 months. *On average, 16% of the money you spend on a product pays for the packaging, which ultimately ends up as rubbish. *As much as 50% of waste in the average dustbin could be composted. *Up to 80% of a vehicle can be recycled. *9 out of 10 people would recycle more if it were made easier. Aluminium *24 million tonnes of aluminium is produced annually, 51,000 tonnes of which ends up as packaging in the UK. *If all cans in the UK were recycled, we would need 14 million fewer dustbins. *£36,000,000 worth of aluminium is thrown away each year. *Aluminium cans can be recycled and ready to use in just 6 weeks. Glass *Each UK family uses an average of 500 glass bottles and jars annually. *The largest glass furnace produces over 1 million glass bottles and jars per day. *Glass is 100% recyclable and can be used again and again. *Glass that is thrown away and ends up in landfills will never decompose. Paper *Recycled paper produces 73% less air pollution than if it was made from raw materials. *12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard are used annually in the UK. *The average person in the UK gets through 38kg of newspapers per year. *It takes 24 trees to make 1 ton of newspaper. Plastic *275,000 tonnes of plastic are used each year in the UK, that’s about 15 million bottles per day. *Most families throw away about 40kg of plastic per year, which could otherwise be recycled. *The use of plastic in Western Europe is growing about 4% each year. *Plastic can take up to 500 years to decompose. In theory, the desire for these products should be on the increase along with the population and technology advances. The more people on the planet the more materials are needed. We, as a planet are already consuming far too many of these products in the modern age but are not necessarily considering the ongoing case of whether or not the materials demand is actually recleining - we could just be breaking even by recyling! When items are recyled, re-used and materials in a product are reduced; there are little to no more of that material made for that use. However, whilst an incline in the population of both humans and animals demand more plastic, paper, glass and aluminium etc. factories are forced to produce the left over requirements that any level of recyling can't salvage. This means, for every product there is a percentage which can be recyled and some of that may have already been through the process and there will usually be some part in need of 'fresh', new materials. In conclusion, the demand for materials which can be, or already have been, recyled certainly links to the demand for those products and waste disposal. If people require more products, more will be recyled and more waste products will be created. The comparisson between recycling and demand does not demonstrate that it is because of recyling that the demand is increased nor decreased and that waste disposal may not be altered by recyling demand. image 33.png|link=Explore whether recycling reduces the demand for resources and the problem of waste disposal, including paper, plastic and metals Category:Recycling Category:Reduce Category:Re-use Category:Resources Category:Waste Disposal Category:Paper Category:Plastic Category:Metal Category:Problem Category:Save space Category:Less carbon in atmosphere Category:ozone layer Category:milk bottles tops Category:100% recycable Category:landfilled sites